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Post by money on Jun 14, 2014 20:34:59 GMT -5
Rode skinny and brown wave today. Took a young man that I am mentoring as part of the GNG Youth Challenge program out. Wow. FATS looked like a war zone! Had a great time, and hopefully got a young man hooked on mountain biking.
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Post by kconner on Jun 16, 2014 21:27:40 GMT -5
Rode Skinny today, everything is in good shape. Theres a group of 4-5 small trees hanging low about 100-200 yards before the big rock at the end of Skinny CCW, and a small tree down immediately after the rock. All can be taken out with a hand saw, hopefully I'll be able to take care of them Thursday morning. A "new line" has developed around the rock, this time on the low side. It does not appear to be a sustainable line due to the side slope and gully right next to it, but it's been blocked/unblocked several times, so that's just my two cents worth. There's a new log down just past the first doubletrack crossing after the intersection with Brown Wave(when travelling CCW)....it's a big log, but it's being ridden (chainring marks) so hopefully it stays.
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Post by Angela on Jun 17, 2014 23:00:32 GMT -5
We have our saw with us each time we ride and usually stop three or four times during our rides. These trees will continue to settle for months so this will be ongoing work.
Quite sometime back we discussed the tree issues out on FATS. Since it is primarily a flow trail there will be a limited number of downed trees left in place on the main trails from the southern trailhead with Skinny and Brown Wave destined to be kept the "cleanest". We talked about leaving the occasional tree on Great Wall and Deep Step on the southern side and same on Big Rock and Tower since these trails tend to be ridden by more experienced riders. We have over 100 miles of trail other than Bartram and FATS that trees of all sizes are left on the trails for that extra challenge for riders to enjoy!
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Post by Angela on Jun 25, 2014 7:27:54 GMT -5
It has been two weeks since we had any significant rain. Most of the heavier rain last night was in a corridor around I 20 - FATS should be okay to ride by later on this afternoon. The ground and plants will absorb the rain we had yesterday quickly.
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Post by clydesdale on Jul 1, 2014 21:08:55 GMT -5
Rode Brown Wave last night and the ice damage trees continue to drop. So, be careful on all the trail at FATS especially Skinny and BW. The trees can be lower than you think.
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Post by Angela on Jul 20, 2014 23:00:23 GMT -5
We had several hours of rain on Saturday and more over FATS today. The trails needs a day or two to dry out.
You probably have seen the heavy red gates at both the south and north trailheads. These gates will not be closed unless trail conditions are dire. The USFS expects us (mountain bikers, runners and other trail users) to police ourselves by not riding the trails when they are wet under normal conditions. This time of year that will typically mean allowing 24 hours after we have had several hours of rain.
When we have been under dry conditions, a light shower in the morning will generally mean by afternoon the trail will be ready to ride. But in periods of prolonged wet, like we had last year, it can take days for the trail to dry out even if the rain has not been heavy in during a specific rain event.
Thanks for helping keep the FATS trails in good condition by exercising good judgement when the trails are wet!
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Post by Angela on Jul 23, 2014 21:33:07 GMT -5
Report in from a rider scouting 3 of the 6 trails - all the FATS loops are good to be ridden! There might be a soft or mushy spot here or there but otherwise they are great.
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Post by dgaddis1 on Jul 24, 2014 8:39:55 GMT -5
Yup, trails were in great shape last night. We did the top three (Deep Step, Big Rock, and Tower) Lots of hero dirt, a few slightly soft spots, and only one spot holding water.
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Post by Angela on Jul 25, 2014 7:36:59 GMT -5
Thanks so much for the report Dustin!
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Post by brianW on Jul 25, 2014 9:17:54 GMT -5
In the last two days of ridden on the loops. One tree on Skinny down (forgot where) that will need a chain saw and a few need to duck ones, other then that all is good
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Post by Angela on Aug 9, 2014 7:58:18 GMT -5
FATS needs to dry out before we ride out there after the heavy rain that came through yesterday evening. More rain is predicted for this afternoon.
The trail was in good shape prior to the rain and it looks like we received just short of an inch of rain so it should be good to go if we can get 24 hours of drying out.
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Post by brando on Aug 12, 2014 19:03:46 GMT -5
Tower and Big Rock are in fine shape. Deep Step was ok (pre-shower). Brown Wave was ok even after today's shower. Rained on me while on G Wall and Skinny. Great Wall is kinda wet. Trees down near 1.5 mile marker. One hand sawable other waist high will need a chain saw. Another near mile 6: waist high, chain saw size. Skinny is really wet and over grown in some spots.
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Post by Angela on Aug 20, 2014 5:59:36 GMT -5
For those planning Fall trips to our area (and local trail users , there will be a 50K trail run held on the southern loops (Deep Step, Great Wall, Skinny and Brown Wave) on Sunday, October 5th. More information will be forthcoming (whether the trail will actually be closed to other users during the event and if not what time the event will start and what order and direction the trails will be ran to determine when they will likely be clear for other users)!
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Post by hemi9673 on Aug 20, 2014 10:06:05 GMT -5
Last week when I rode Great Wall it had trees down in 4 or 5 spots. Does anyone know if the trees have been cleared out of the way or not.
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Post by Angela on Aug 20, 2014 11:58:08 GMT -5
The trees will need to be removed by one of our USFS certified chain sawyers and this is the first I have heard of these trees that are down. Did you happen to notice the location or were they merely scattered along the trail?
Thanks!
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Post by hemi9673 on Aug 20, 2014 20:02:41 GMT -5
If you ride the trail in the clockwise direction there is one at the beginning of the trail. The others are scattered throughout the trail some you have to pick the bike up over and a some you have to push the bike under. I wish I had paid attention to the mile markers but I am a few months new to mountain biking and I am still concentrating on staying upright and continuing to breath. I normally ride great wall in the clockwise direction but most people I pass are going in the counter clockwise direction so I think I will try it that way when I get back from vacation. I just really enjoy great wall and the trees slow your momentum down and take away some of the fun. I was wondering if you had to be a certain someone to cut the trees so you did answer that question for me. Hope it gets cleared soon.
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Post by dgaddis1 on Aug 21, 2014 10:11:44 GMT -5
I just really enjoy great wall and the trees slow your momentum down and take away some of the fun. I was wondering if you had to be a certain someone to cut the trees so you did answer that question for me. Hope it gets cleared soon. How big are the trees? Some trees are left on purpose for people to ride, once you learn how they're a lot of fun. This is a great size "rider" that lots of folks can ride, or at least work up to riding: And here's an example of one that very select few can ride (I can't). One this size will get removed. This one is also up off the ground which makes it even harder.
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Post by hemi9673 on Aug 21, 2014 18:05:40 GMT -5
I just assumed they were not suppose to be there because within a three day period after a rain they showed up but maybe I am mistaken. One of them is up off the ground a good bit because you have to push your bike underneath it. Hopefully someone that knows the trail better than I will ride and comment on it.
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Post by brando on Aug 21, 2014 21:34:54 GMT -5
Last week there was a waist high one at mile marker 6 and another at mile 1.5
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Post by dgaddis1 on Aug 22, 2014 6:38:38 GMT -5
I just assumed they were not suppose to be there because within a three day period after a rain they showed up but maybe I am mistaken. One of them is up off the ground a good bit because you have to push your bike underneath it. Hopefully someone that knows the trail better than I will ride and comment on it. Trees fall all the time, especially out at FATS since there was a burn and an ice storm in the last year. Some trees will get cut out, some will be left as riders. The one you have to crawl under will definitely get cut out, all of the others might too, the sawers make the call.
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